Paint . Decorate . Rinse . Repeat

CHOOSING A WHITE FOR YOUR KITCHEN

It always makes a showing and my guess is that choosing the “RIGHT WHITE” is what drives the

most

people crazy. Am I white? I mean right?

I LOVE A WHITE KITCHEN – THEY STAND THE TEST OF TIME!!!

A FEW YEARS AGO – We wanted to update our kitchen but were not in the place to do a “GUT

REVOVATION” .

AH yes, that would have been nice, but like I always say – my greatest moments of creativity and

ingenuity has been born of a BUDGET!!!

HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS OF OUR KITCHEN WHEN WE MOVED IN

WE PAINTED THE CABINETS AND BOUGHT SOME TIME….

THE AFTER AND BEFORE KITCHEN

The first step in our KITCHEN RENOVATION was to replace the cabinet doors...( 1, 2, 3,4, 5)

….somehow I knew that if the Doors and Drawer fronts were updated….the lines cleaner…more contemporary – I knew that YEARS could be taken off our 50-year-old kitchen…

And so we began.

Stage one of the facelift involved installing new cabinet doors and drawer fronts. The old cabinets were installed in 1967, but the ORIGINAL FOOTPRINT WORKED and to tear them all out, only to replace in the SAME PLACE – would not be a wise use of our dollars. WE decided to replace the doors and drawers with a 1″ overlay, almost covering entirely the boxes and making them look like almost new. I researched doors and carpenters online and settled on a great guy in Kentucky. Hunter’s woodworking. Ask for Charlie. He has the patience of a saint!
Measuring out the doors and drawers was huge undertaking, especially for me, but after much obsessive measuring and check-double checking, I got it done, the numbers sent off and the doors were made.

KITCHEN

While measuring each door and drawer was tedious work – it paled in comparison to

ONE MORE – MOONLIGHT WHITE was a close runner up had a grayer undertone.

THE other Colors I tried were: “GLACIER WHITE”, (too grayish (FOR ME), “CHANTILLY LACE” ( a GREAT “PERFECT WHITE” but I wanted a bit more depth in the kitchen) but it is gorgeous and I ended up using it on ALL my interior trim, “ SIMPLY WHITE” ( I LOVE but has a gold/yellow undertone – making it perfect for our HOUSE exterior which is where we used it), “MARSCAPONE” was ALMOST perfect but still a tad too yellowish – white, “DEEP IN THOUGHT” almost, but too dark. “WHITE DOVE”, “CLOUD WHITE” AND CLOUD NINE” were all very very CLOSE to perfect , but in the end their undertones did not work.

What I came to realize is that in my 130 year old house, atoo white white looked incredibly out-of-place, like it landed there from outer space. But too “yellowed” look contrived and old….I needed an in-between clean white – with a very neutral undertone.

SAMPLES! ALWAYS TRY YOUR SAMPLES OUT IN THE ROOM!!

Might as well pile a bunch of money on this counter…but I finally figured it out,

CARE TO Guess which one I chose?

THE TIPPING POINT WAS A SUGGESTION BY “TRUE COLOUR EXPERT” MARIA KILLAM WHO RECOMMENDED “MOUNTAIN PEAK WHITE” AS THE PERFECT WHITE WHEN PLACED NEXT TO WHITE SUBWAY TILE WHICH I KNEW I WANTED TO EVENTUALLY USE FOR THE BACK SPLASH.

MOUNTAIN PEAK WHITEMOUNTAIN PEAK WHITE CABINETSIT DOES WORK GREAT WITH THE SUBWAY TILE!

CHOOSING COLOR CAN BE A DAUNTING EXPERIENCE AND CHOOSING A WHITE COLOR CAN TAKE DAUNTING TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL…AND YOU WANT ALL OF THE COLORS TO PLAY NICE WITH EACH OTHER!!!!

BENJAMIN MOORE: MOUNTAIN PEAK WHITE, GOSSAMER BLUE, STONINGTON GRAY, OCEAN AIR – KITCHEN COLORS NEED TO PLAY WELL WITH EACHOTHER AND LEAVE ROOM FOR ALL OF THE COLOR THAT FILLS A KITCHEN WITH LIFE!

TAKE THE TIME YOU NEED AND SPEND THE LITTLE BIT EXTRA $$$ TO TRY SAMPLES…TAKING GREAT CARE TO PAY ATTENTION TO GRAY, BLUE AND YELLOW UNDERTONES. THE UNDERTONES ARE WHERE IT IS AT…AND WHILE THEY MAY BE SUBTLE IN A SAMPLE…BUT WHEN YOU MULTIPLY IT BY A WHOLE ROOM THEY CAN DOMINATE THE SPACE….

GOOD LUCK!!!

FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME lsdevito@gmail.com with any color questions – I will do my best to help!!!

Like this:

4 thoughts on “CHOOSING A WHITE FOR YOUR KITCHEN”

Hi Leslie! First – your kitchen is gorgeous! Your white is perfect. (And let me say the light above your sink is a-m-a-z-I-n-g!) I had the same thing in my kitchen – layout was great, cabinets were just dated. So, after a gazillion samples, I found the right white for me. Whew! It was a process. Have a wonderful weekend! Jane

Beautiful! What is the white color on your walls? I’m currently trying to figure out a cabinet color, and the cabinets will be against walls that are BM White Dove. Did you do the same colors, a shade darker, or what? Would love any insight!!

The cabinets are mountain peak white, Benjamin Moore. The walls are the same color as the rest the house Sherwin-Williams steamed milk. But in all the photos you are looking at everything is mountain peak white.

Your kitchen has undoubtedly be a labour of love, which can be seen from the quality of the finish. When I advise clients I often lean to this style of ‘clean’ and ‘hygenic’ appearance, although I should be impartial. I will, with your permission use your website (and this article) as an example of what can be achieved. This should make my life alot easier.

Thanks.

Thank you for visiting My Old Country House...I’d love to hear what you thinking. Let me know in the comments. And Have a great Day! Cancel reply

Post navigation

OUR NEW SOFA – FINALLY!

w e l c o m e t o m y o l d c o u n t r y h o u s e !

Hi I’m Lesli!

In 2004 my husband and I looked at each other and said "If not now - When?" So we sold our "first" house in the beautiful town of Charlottesville VA and moved our family of 5 to an 140 year old Farmhouse just out of town - to the country - thus starting the biggest and most exciting and challenging chapter of our lives. A few years into this adventure - I left my job as a Nurse Practitioner to focus solely on my ART and my family. And in 2011 - I started THIS blog - to share it all!
Our lives have changed dramatically in those 14 years. Our eldest was a first grader in 2004 -and we now have two kids in college (gulp) and a high schooler (the baby) is still at home - but making college visits. Guys - it flies. We do not take one day for granted. Each day is a gift and we are so grateful to share it with you!

Search this blog

Search for:

My Old Country House

DRONES EYE VIEW OF MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE Photography by @barlingphotography